Michael Doucet

Michael Louis Doucet (born February 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.

Michael Doucet
Michael Doucet at the Minnesota State Fair, 2016
Background information
Birth nameMichael Louis Doucet
Born (1951-02-14) February 14, 1951
Scott, Louisiana, U.S.
GenresCajun
Occupation(s)Singer, musician
InstrumentsCajun fiddle
Years active1975–present
LabelsArhoolie, Swallow, Rounder, Smithsonian Folkways, Compass, Yep Roc
Associated actsBeauSoleil, Savoy Doucet Cajun Band, Fiddlers 4
Websitewww.beausoleilmusic.com

Career

Doucet was born in Scott, Louisiana. He learned banjo at age six, guitar at eight, and belonged to a Cajun rock band with his cousin, Zachary Richard, at twelve. In his early 20s, Doucet and his cousin went to France, and when he got home he added violin to his music studies. Violin became his primary instrument, though he also plays accordion and mandolin.[1]

In 1975, he started the Cajun band Coteau, and two years later he started BeauSoleil with Kenneth Richard and Sterling Richard. Beausoleil plays an eclectic combination of traditional Cajun music, blues, country, jazz, and zydeco. Doucet has been a member of a more traditional Cajun band, the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band with Ann Savoy and Marc Savoy, and Fiddlers 4 with Darol Anger, Rushad Eggleston, and Bruce Molsky. He began teaching in 1977 at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.[1]

Awards and honors
Doucet on accordion

In 1975, Doucet received an NEA Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant to study Cajun fiddle styles from masters such as Varise Conner, Hector Duhon, Canray Fontenot, Lionel LeLeux, and Dennis McGee.

Doucet is a recipient of a 2005 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[2][1] Two years later, he was named a USA Collins Family Foundation Fellow and awarded a $50,000 grant by United States Artists, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.

Discography
  • Cajun Jam Sessions (Arhoolie, 1983)
  • Dit Beausoleil (Arhoolie, 1983)
  • Parlez-Nous a Boire (Arhoolie, 1984)
  • Christmas Bayou (Swallow, 1986)
  • Allons a Lafayette (Arhoolie, 1988)
  • Hot Chili Mama (Arhoolie, 1988)
  • Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew (Rounder, 1988)
  • Beau Solo (Arhoolie, 1989)
  • Déjá Vu (Swallow, 1991)
  • Le Hoogie Boogie: Louisiana French Music for Children (Rounder, 1992)
  • From Now On (Smithsonian Folkways, 2008)
  • Alligator Purse (Yep Roc, 2009)
  • Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (MunckMix, 2009)
  • Belizaire the Cajun (soundtrack) (Arhoolie, 2011)
  • From Bamako to Carencro (Compass, 2013)
  • Cajun Fandango (Parhelion, 2016)[3]
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See also

References
  1. Humphrey, Mark A. "Michael Doucet". AllMusic. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  2. "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2005". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  3. "Michael Doucet | Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
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